Thursday, 4 April 2013

Flames of War: The Beginning

After many years in the world of science fiction, I am now dipping my nerdy toes into the unknown warp-rift that leads to historical gaming. Having done Modern history (and enjoying it) and being an avid player of World of Tanks, it seemed perfectly natural for me to choose a game based on the Second World War. As those who have seen my Zvezda review, the game I've chosen is in 15mm (1/100) scale.

This means most games I play will be Flames of War. There is also another game, Battlegroup Kursk, which I have had shown to me and is produced by the came company who makes my models, Plastic Soldier. This uses the same scale and models, although infantry works differently, and I will be building a separate set just for that game. But the tanks will be fine, and I have got many plans involving tanks.

So far, I have enough models to start a Panzerkompanie, 5 Stug Gs and 5 Panther Gs. I will be doing a late war force. The models are from Plastic Soldier's 15mm range. Great models: cheaper than offical FoW (five Panther G's from them is £41, as opposed to AP's five for £16), and come with a multitude of options and spares, from hull designs to stowage. A lot more complicated than the Zvezda ones, but easily nicer looking models.

The scheme I've decided in is not too different to this one, a 'mid war' scheme which didn't go out of fashion until 1944, meaning it is fine to use on my Gs. It is also the one I've been practicing, using my Zvezda tanks as testers (shown below). Whilst not yet perfected, I think it is a pretty convincing attempt.

After these models have been painted, I only have a few small steps to make at the moment, before getting into the game further. I want to get either a box of Panzer IIIs or more Panthers, and probably some infantry. One tank from one box will be converted into a 'berge' tank (recovery vehicle). I'm leaning towards a Bergepanther, as it has better armour, and I've found a very convincing tutorial to make one from a regular Panther model in this scale.

One thing I found out in my first game was how expensive some tanks can be. Being outnumbered 2:1 did mean a defeat once tanks started dropping. The Panthers did pretty good though considering, and soaked up most shots aimed at their front armour. All I need to do really is understand the best way to use these tanks, and hopefully I can pull a win.